


Blended

by intheheart



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 11:39:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10333856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intheheart/pseuds/intheheart
Summary: A sweet combination of a little feels, a little fluff. Orana and Bethany meeting and bonding a little in Orana's new life where she can actually want things for herself as she is becoming her whole self.AU-lite with a little bending of canon rules.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tiili97](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tiili97/gifts).



_ She likes two spoons of honey. Two. One-and-two. _ Orana places the cup onto the saucer carefully, then puts the tray down before Marian Hawke.  _ The Mistress--no, she asked I use Messere--likes her tea with two spoons of honey, a warm bun with jam, and her fruit sliced just so.  _

 

It had been just over a month since she had come into the service of the woman who had saved her. As she was apt to do, she made it a priority to learn everything she could. That was what she had always done. Learn their habits, learn what they need, learn what’s expected of you, what isn’t, and where the limits were. Don’t push at them. 

 

“Good morning, Orana,” Hawke said with a smile upon receiving her breakfast. Her brown hair was shiny, not a bit out of place, unlike the night she had com with the two elves to save her. People like her. And they had all been friends. The human didn’t hold anything in her voice or her posture that resembled Hadriana’s demands. Orana’s thoughts passed to her father for a brief moment, before she bit her lip lightly to catch herself.

 

“Good morning, Messere. Is everything as expected?” she asked, lowering her head some. 

 

“Just how I like it. Your jam is perfectly sweet.”  Hawke smiled again, though her attention turned to the doorway when her mother entered along with Merrill, one of the two elves who had helped save her. Leandra sat facing her daughter, while Merrill made her way toward Orana and Hawke.

 

“I’ll go and get you some tea,” Orana said, before exiting, but not before noting the spark in Hawke’s eye and the warmth of her smile as Merrill pulled out the chair beside her and sat down.

 

****

 

Every morning, she rose wanting to learn, feeling like she had to fill her moments with good things, things to do, tasks to master. Yet there was a certain satisfaction she felt room to have. It was a strange thing about this new life. Her father had protected her but it was now her alone out here. It was still strange being paid for tasks. She had a small sum now. It felt strange and improper to accept the silver for anything, let alone learning. Sometimes she turned the word over in her head: free. Paid. What would she do with money? She kept it thus far, venturing only to buy a sweet cake once while at the market shopping for supper supplies. That night she unwrapped the small pastry while in her bed, took a small bite, then another. It felt like a secret, though perhaps it didn’t have to be. But something being her decision, her desire, her  _ choice _ was funny in that peculiar way. Owning something. Wanting something. Making a decision. Those were things the Master did. 

 

As she cleaned up the breakfast table after the three women had left, Orana heard a noise and turned. It was Merrill. Both of them wore similarly tentative gazes before smiling at one another. While Hawke was patient with her, and showed much kindness in her learning and effort, she was still the lady of this big house. Her mother was kind, sometimes offering her some tips, but it was also different. Merrill was becoming a friend. That these humans, with their bounty, could treat elves with kindness, not take her to task harshly if she made any mistakes, and even share affection with one like her gave her a warmth. The tight cord that had wound through her invisibly since her arrival had faded some as she worked to prove herself, but not receiving a hand if she made a mistake with the tea, not being admonished when she dropped several eggs on the floor, and not being corrected if she took a few minutes to chat with Merrill. 

 

****

 

The night was still. Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion from the second the group had entered the house. No one spoke. No one had to speak. They had gone in search of Leandra after her disappearance. Orana brought out tea, placing each cup down, fingers with nails bitten to the skin, before Hawke, Merrill, and the prince that sometimes traveled with them. Again, no one spoke. No one knew what to say. Finally, Hawke drew a long, deep sighing breath. She put her head in her hands. Her next breaths gave away her silent tears.

 

It was eight o’clock in the morning when the doorbell pealed. The house, still silent, was under a sluggish cloud. Orana tucked some stray hair behind an ear and went to answer. She opened the door. Standing there under a sky thick with clouds was a young woman dressed in Circle robes bearing a letter. 

 

“Hello, I’ve come to see my sister. My name is Bethany Hawke,” said the brunette woman as she stepped inside the house. 

 

“I’ll tell her you’re here, Messere,” Orana said, swiping the stray hair aside yet and feeling a warmth at taking in the mage before her. Before she could turn to leave, a question.

 

“Is there something amiss?” she asked. Orana thought for a second, then she asked against all better judgment.

 

“You are a mage, yes? Why don’t you carry a staff?” Her curiosity was a burden. She braced. Merrill and Anders always traveled with a staff, and Hadriana was never without hers. 

 

Bethany laughed in spite of herself. I am here on special permission. No staff is part of the deal I made.

“I see you’ve met my sister, Orana. Marian Hawke was already up, but doing nothing to strip away the cloud of slow motion the whole house was still under as she descended the stairs toward them both. Even the dwarf merchants were not bothering to do anything today. “Sister, what is this deal you speak of?”

“Yes, a deal, an exchange for my presence here for three days. For you. For Mother. They’ve granted me that, but no magic and no staff while I am outside the tower.” She shrugged and her face, while solemn, was graceful. “I was always going to fight for us,” she said as Marian made it downstairs to hug her. “First Dad, then Carver, now Mother. I had to. I have to check in each morning by letter. You have to sign it to accept responsibility for me. It was the only way I could finally convince them to let me come.  ”

Marian put an arm around her sister and they walked to the sitting room. Orana’s eyes stayed upon the grace of Bethany’s shoulders and the way her hair fell upon them.

 

******

  
  


Marian, Bethany, and Merrill sat around the table telling stories. Orana was pouring tea again, trying to be an unknown presence, albeit one who peered over at Bethany’s mouth now and then.

She spoke, hand in her sister’s. “And Carver would always circle ‘round and stand in front of my hiding spots, arms crossed, trying to be a guard. It was never going to work out like that, with anyone trying to find me. I’d always lose. Mother would try to tell him he had to let me go a little bit, because he was giving me away. But I think he was afraid and knew I was afraid. It was his way of protecting me from everything.” She fidgeted, reaching for her tea, which Orana figured must be cold by now, and drank a hard swallow anyway. Pushing it away. Orana recalled what it was like in her first days here, realizing her father was not there to protect her any longer and imagined something similar had risen in Bethany’s throat to push down too.

“And I’m gone now. You’re here. I wish I could return to your side. The Circle has treated me well, but our family is broken yet again.”

“Bethany, you’re here now, and it’s more than I would’ve expected or hoped for. This family has run, we have fought, we have lived in terrible conditions, starved, worked, and above all, remained a family. That isn’t changing. We may be a little smaller, and this hole is another never to be filled, but I have you, always. And with all of the danger and trouble we have seen, you’re safe, you’re learning, thriving even.” Marian’s own voice wasn’t as sturdy as she probably hoped it would be, but her message came through. “And I have friends here, help, support, and yes, family. Merrill has been staying here with me. We are learning from one another.”

Orana looked toward Merrill, whose eyes moved from Hawke’s face to her own hands. 

“I am here for your sister, Bethany. I wish I were as brave or as strong, but I will remain,” said Merrill as she squeezed Marian’s hand. Orana took the tea cups and saucers and put them on a tray. Hawke suddenly began a new tale, and Orana felt the best kind of invisible, as she deliberately slowed herself down.

“Remember the cake Mother would make whenever we were troubled? When father died. When we had to hide and when Carver would worry. Even when I’d fret over being the eldest and having to go and protect you all. I trained until I could hit hard, until I could be a solid sister and daughter. And for everything I could do, guard against, or prepare for, I couldn’t help protect you from your fear over power, and Carver from feeling like he was never enough. One day she surprised me with that cake, just her and me. You two were in bed already. She told me that I too was enough. That she was proud of me, of all of us, and that she believed in her children, who had already showed her they were special. Of her decision to leave behind ease as an Amell? 

“Not a single regret” she said. “Not one”. And then we ate slices of this cake over tea.

 

******

 

Later, Orana paced the kitchen. Oh, this is not proper of me. What if it works? What if it doesn’t work? I am so out of place. 

 

The door opened behind her. She turned to see Bethany enter with the cup from the final round of tea. This too was wrong, to let her gaze linger a little too long was something not for another, it was for herself. She felt heat rise into her cheeks, but swallowed down.

 

“Messere?” Her voice sounded almost outside herself. “Forgive me if improper, but I could not help but wonder. You all spoke of a cake. One your mother prepared. I have been learning many things while in this house’s employ, and I wondered….if...as an honor to her...if you knew the ingredients. Or the recipe. I could learn.”

 

Bethany laughed. It was unexpected, and echoed in the quiet night kitchen. Something beautiful. 

 

“I was going to ask you if you’d try to help me prepare it, for my sister’s sake. I have a list of the ingredients here,” she said, as Orana froze when seeing the paper.

 

She hung her head. “Messere, I cannot read,” she mumbled, feeling defeated. 

 

“Well, I can’t appear at market. Would you recall the items if I stated them?” To this, Orana nodded. “Oh yes, I can fetch items”.

 

******

 

The next morning, Marian was arranging Chantry service and had a meeting with Varric to see to. Orana had gone out right after Marian did, and had returned from the market with fresh eggs, flour, honey, butter, some dried fruits, fresh berries, milk, and petals from the Feli flower, said to bring happiness.

 

Bethany insisted on helping. “I get bored if I don’t do anything,” she said, “I’d just calculate and imagine all the steps in my head otherwise.” So she placed several bowls onto the counter and Orana placed the ingredients down.

 

Orana gazed at her chewed nails, wishing her nerves were not worn outside this way. She was small, still afraid, but this graceful sister of her Lady was here, smelling of rose and Feli. It was a mix that made her want to smell it forever. She poured out two cups of flour with the wooden measure, then added some eggs and butter to the mix. After Orana mixed these together, Bethany added the required honey and all of the fruit. 

 

Orana set the bowl down and tried to stir. The batter was now quite thick, and the bowl turned with the spoon as she tried to mix it together. 

 

“Here,” Bethany said, as she held the bowl down. She put her hand over Orana’s and guided her to stirring it with the bowl held in place. Orana could smell her skin and, for one of the first times in her life, understood what it meant to want something for herself. Together, they stirred the thick mix until it combined and smoothed. It was time for the Feli flowers, which Orana picked up and added, then they continued stirring once more.

 

Bethany held her own hand over Orana’s a bit too long. Orana felt her heart speed up. Her eyes felt thick as she lifted them to Bethany’s. Bethany took a bit of batter on her finger, tasted it, then spread the rest on Orana’s lower lip. Orana, trembling, existing in the strangest of lives, lifted her head up just enough for the warm, soft kiss that followed.

 

******

Marian had cried too many tears recently, but this cake, when they brought it out, called forth a few more for very different reasons. And right here, tasting this cake, a version of their mothers, a new form of it, surrounded by Bethany and Merrill, and Orana, whose hand Bethany held, it was the very imperfect symbol of everything they were now. Something combined. Something new. A family, not broken, but changed. 

 

*****

 

The letter had arrived that morning. It was, to say the least, a surprise. And it was more of a note. She had been learning to read and to write. 

 

“I hear you are coming back this year for the anniversary. There shall be cake. I fall asleep imagining your eyes.”

 

_ “And I, yours, dear,” _ Bethany thought.

  
  



End file.
